I find that fabric postcards (the size of a postcard) and Artist Trading Cards (playing card size) are a fun and fast way to express your creativity. They’re great to trade and mail (and yes, you can mail the postcards) or you can frame them and hang them as art in your home.
You can make them as simple or as complex as you would like, but here are the basics to make any fiber art postcard.
Supply List Suggestions:
- Sewing machine
- Stabilizer: Each postcard needs a 4” x 6” piece or slightly larger if you want to trim after quilting. I like either Timtex or Fast2Fuse. If you are using Timtex you will probably also want to fusible web (such as Wonder Under). Fast2Fuse is slightly thinner than Timtex but is fusible on both sides. You can also use craft-weight Pelon, buckram, or heavy cotton duck fabric as your stabilizer.
- Fabric scissors, rotary cutter, mat, and ruler
- Fabric(s) for the front of your postcards. They can be whole cloth, pieced, appliquéd, etc.
- Plain light colored fabric for the back of your postcard. Heavy muslin is great.
- Fabric scraps, ribbons, yarns, fibers, feathers, sequin, paper scraps—any thing your machine can sew through.
- Thread(s) to match or complement your fabric. Bobbin(s) to match.
- Pigma Pens or permanent markers for writing on the postcards
Other Possible Supplies:
- Decorative threads (variegated, rayon, metallic, etc) and appropriate needles
- Netting and/or tulle
- Thin batting
- Rubber stamps and stamp pads
- Fabric markers
How do you make fabric postcards?
There are several different ways to make fabric post cards: You can quilt one with the traditional way that you would make a quilt by sandwiching two layers of fabric with batting. You can iron on appliqués or fabrics onto a 4 x 6 piece of Fast2Fuse.
